Unmaskings
by Tainted Spirals
Summary: A look at what lies beneath all the pretenses the characters of Yu Yu Hakusho hold. Each chapter is a oneshot. Anything by Tainted is probably from school. Anything for Spirals is probably already posted on her own account anyway, and was done just becaus


May 10, 2006

_**Work:** The Price Paid_

_For the Future_

* * *

Yusuke grumbled as he returned to the police station.

This night had been a long one. And despite the cool crisp air of the coming morning and the light of the fading stars above, Yusuke could not bring himself to relax.

Well.

At least, not completely.

He kicked a can down the sidewalk, putting his hands in his pockets just as he had always done. A lot had changed since the days when he used to walk this way all the time.

Back then, he hadn't cared about school, money, or appearances. He would attend when he felt like it, ignore the need for luxuries because he could, and dress out of uniform when he did attend school. And no one could make him change his ways. Not his mother, not the principle, not even Keiko. He had been the number one punk of Sarasaki Middle School, and while he only loved the title when he was fighting, that was who he was.

Psh. And look at him now.

What was he, a former street fighter, doing? Pretending he could do the whole good cop scene? Wasn't that being hypocritical? After all, back then it had been him who was starting fights, beating up any thugs who came his way, being a truant, causing trouble for the locals. He'd even smoked and drunk alcohol every once and a while, when no one was looking. He was a prankster, full of jokes, purposely insensitive, and never going with the flow.

He had been a boulder in the river of life. And while everyone else was being a good little pebble and passing him on by, he carved his own path through the riverbed. So heavy was he that he that he served no purpose as a paperweight, nor was he large enough to become shelter for others. He was essentially a useless nuisance. Wasn't that what his teachers had been telling him all those years?

Ah, but a kid couldn't just sit in a classroom and not absorb _nothing_. He was sure he had proven that one more than once. His teachers might have assumed that he wasn't paying attention at all, but in truth, he only paid attention when he chose too, when the subject was of an interest to him. In fact, science was his favorite subject. One never knew when the little tidbits of information could come in handy with his line of 'work.'

And little by little over time, Yusuke had found that his state of boulder-ness was slowly being eroded away. By the river, the wind, and even the many little pebbles that kept seeming to pass him by, only to return again and pelt him once more with their existence. Lucky for him it didn't rain often.

Yusuke rolled his eyes at this thought.

Oh but when it rained, it poured. He remembered all too well Toguro, a part of the past, a part of the river he had thought was long gone and washed away by the current of that river of time. But no, it had returned to him in the form of rain. And even parts of the past that he'd never seen before had managed to rain down on him. The ex-Spirit Detective Sensui, his 'father' Raizen, and –well, he supposed some of the past he didn't mind seeing again. Take Gin for example, and Chuu, and Touya, Rinku, and Sazuka. They were all welcome parts of his past he could never resent. Soul brothers who loved a good fight just as much as he had.

In fact, he still loved a good fight.

And just because he loved a good fight didn't necessarily mean he was evil or anything. He recalled once telling the Spirit Defense Force something of that nature.

"I'm the same. Yusuke Urameshi, fearless protector of the good stuff, with a healthy kickin'-ass-ness, and a general hate for authority. And nothing as trivial as a violent death or a few drops of demon blood mixed in with mine is going to keep me from helping out my friends and saving the world and kickin' the bad guy's ass."

Well. He supposed maybe things hadn't changed so much after all.

As it was, Yusuke wasn't just another normal cop. He was an undercover cop, the type that roamed downtown and scoped out trouble of the illegal type. And one can imagine, with that kind of work, he still got his chances to pound people into the ground, no matter how easy it had become to him.

And then of course, there were the demons.

Now that the Kakai barrier holding back the demons from entering the Human World had been dropped, more and more demons have been appearing in Human World. One can imagine that this would cause a bit of trouble. And while these demons were forbidden from openly terrorizing humans, that didn't stop them from lurking about dark alleyways. So Yusuke took it upon himself to make sure said demons were kept out of too much trouble. And what's more, kept the secret of Demon World just that: a secret.

In a way, he supposed he was still saving the world and kicking bad-guy ass. Just, he had to admit, a little more discretely and with much more control. As for helping out his friends, he most certainly hoped he was still doing that. Why, wasn't it just last Sunday he was baby-sitting all the little buggers they called their children while Kurama and his wife went out of town? Not that he minded kids much. In fact, he loved them. He supposed a little part of him still refused to grow up, so spending time with the children made him immensely happy.

Yusuke was brought out of his thoughts as he neared the police station. Ah, yes, but immediately after that relaxing day with those kids, he had had to go back to work and apprehend a suspicious demon who had been dealing in drugs of a inhuman nature.

Yusuke sighed.

Now that had been exciting. Too bad things like that only happened once every couple of weeks or so. After that there had been a lull in the criminal activity in his quarter of the city, as the criminals will tell you that whenever someone has been caught, everyone goes underground for a while. And then everything gets boring for Yusuke.

If he had a choice in the matter, he wouldn't be doing this as a cop anyway. If it weren't for the fact that he needed to earn money to support his growing family, he would just get his kicks beating demons up on a regular basis.

But no.

He has to keep a low profile whenever he can so he can apprehend the bad guys with proof. Not that he really turned in the demons, but his job was to get the humans too. For that he needed proof and warrants and all that pomp. Basically he had to do exactly what he hated to do all his life: obey authority.

Yusuke stopped short of the front door to the station.

Hell, he was the authority!

Really, what happened to him? Used to be he didn't care one bit. And even after he'd learned about demons and all that, he'd only cared about protecting his friends. And now look at him, that river had eroded him into just another pebble and suddenly he was normal. He had a family, and friends, and a regular job. None of these did he expect to have back when he was that juvenile delinquent who walked around with his hands in his pockets kicking cans down the sidewalk.

When had that happened? When was it that everything had started to change? How was it that he was suddenly just another pebble in the river? What had he done that that made him –_normal_?

Yusuke's eyes scoured the door in front of him as if it held all the answers to his disturbing questions. Knowing that the glass doors couldn't possibly have words carved into them, he forced his thoughts inward and back in time. His mind raced as he traced back the lines of time, scouring the riverbanks of his life, in the hopes of finding where it had all begun. He reviewed all the times that he'd fought for what he cared for, that he'd fought for what he loved and needed to protect.

Raizen. Sensui. Toguro. The Four Saint Beasts. Genkai's Tournament.

His first death.

Was that it? Was that when this had all started? When he made the decision to come back to life?

No.

Perhaps that's when he'd started caring, but after his revival he could have simply gone back to being the punk he was. No, it must have been after that. At Genkai's tournament, that must be it. After he had won that, he had been forced to do something he'd never ever wanted to do. If he could have helped it, he would have avoided it all his life.

Well. Seems the old hag really did know how to teach, because now he was doing the one thing he most hated every day of his life.

_Work._

* * *

**Disclaimer: **Characters originate from the story of Yu Yu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi. Portrayal of characters intended as a part of the Unmaskings, a joint effort brought to you by Tainted Spirals. All dialogue and related descriptions pulled from the English versions of the manga (earlier chapters) and the dub (later episodes). 


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